The Glory Of America's Pastime

The Baseball Hall Of Fame In The Rustic Village Of Cooperstown, N.y., Captures The Lure Of The Sport.

January 10, 1999|By Linda Davis, CONTRA COSTA TIMES

There was no better time to visit Cooperstown, N.Y., a rustic village, than the last week of baseball season. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's garb were newly installed in special cases in the lobby at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The two supersluggers hit yet more homers before the week was out, and the day we were there, the Orioles' Cal Ripken sat out his first game, breaking a 2,632 game streak that spanned 16 years.

``Boy, this is the week for baseball, huh?'' mused the museum guide. We had to agree.

There's something about the place - especially Abner Doubleday Field and the multimedia show in the museum - that conjures memories of boys, red-faced and anxious, as they await their turn at bat on a hot summer day. It has something to do with bandaged knees, team trophies and outgrown cleats, filthy, grass-stained uniforms from the game-winning slide to home plate.

The boys grow up and become men. The mothers grow older and become sappy with nostalgia, like I did watching a fresh crop of the boys of summer playing at Abner Doubleday Field near the Hall.

The historic baseball field is ringed by quaint houses, and in September, with the leaves turning, Cooperstown becomes picture postcard perfect.

Once you get hooked on baseball, it never leaves you. And nowhere is the lure, the tradition and the glory of America's pastime more beautifully depicted than at the Hall of Fame.

Only 1 percent of those who have played major league baseball are enshrined in the hall - 237 bronze relief plaques that line both sides of the gallery on Level 1.

There are familiar names, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. And unfamiliar names - those of umpires and commissioners and early players who were inducted years after their deaths. You could spend two hours reading all the plaques, but there are three levels with numerous wings to explore, each one devoted to some aspect of baseball.

Many of the exhibits are multimedia and interactive. By choosing buttons from a menu, visitors can hear and see their baseball heroes in action: Babe Ruth signing autographs for the kids on an old newsreel, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio clowning with the 1938 World Champion New York Yankees.

On the second level is the Grandstand Theatre and Baseball Today room - two of my favorites. Baseball Today features ``lockers'' for every major team complete with jerseys, gloves, jackets and bats.

The entry to the theater is fashioned like an old ballpark with iron railings lined with whimsical figures of popcorn sellers, kids, grandpas, souvenir hawkers.

Once inside the theater there's a multimedia presentation that beautifully captures baseball's mystique and brought this baseball mom to tears.

Exiting the theater brings you to a chronological history of the game, era by era. You see the Babe's 60th home run bat and the one from Ted Williams' .406 season in 1941. Ty Cobb's sliding pads and Jackie Robinson's warm-up jacket are but a few of the artifacts.

The World Series Room holds an eye-popping assortment of memorabilia - Yogi Berra's catcher's mitt from Don Larsen's 1956 no-hitter, Willie Mays' glove from his famous catch in 1954, Joe Carter's bat from the 1993 Series. There is also a collection of World Series rings dating back to 1922.

Baseball at the Movies, and Scribes and Mikemen (about old baseball writers and sportscasters) are two new attractions since I first visited the Hall in 1992.

Women in Baseball, African-American Baseball History, 500 Home Run Hitters, old ballparks, rare baseball cards and the Evolution of the Uniform are other fascinating displays.

The Hall of Fame also is a library and archive that contains the most extensive and diverse collection of photographs, documents and published materials about the game.

You need at least four to six hours, if not longer, to enjoy the exhibits at the Hall of Fame. The museum shop is good for another hour of browsing for books, clothing and souvenirs.

The picturesque village of Cooperstown isn't just about baseball, however. Founded in 1786 by the father of author James Fenimore Cooper (The Last of the Mohicans), the hamlet of 2,200 residents contains museums, galleries, artisans, bed-and-breakfast inns and the nine-mile-long Otsego Lake - the ``Glimmerglass'' of Cooper's stories.

Fenimore House Museum, about a mile from the Hall of Fame, is a beautiful neo-Georgian structure with terraced gardens overlooking Lake Otsego. We walked to the gazebo at lake's edge and watched the 1912 vintage 60-foot red tour boat carrying visitors across the lake.

At the Fenimore Museum are changing exhibitions of folk and fine art, Cooper memorabilia and an extensive collection of American Indian art. There is an Iroquois 1750s-style fishing camp as part of the new American Indian Wing, where Iroquois crafts and traditions are presented by costumed interpreters during the summer months.